2023-09-16 03:34:34
A Ukrainian court has ordered the arrest of a former minister on suspicion of pro-Russian sentiments and treason. Nestor Schufrych is accused, among other things, of having maintained contacts with a fugitive Ukrainian parliamentarian. “This is exactly what the authorities need,” Schufrytsch said on Friday in a video released by the Suspilne television channel as court officers handcuffed him and led him away.
According to media reports, his lawyers want to appeal the decision. Specifically, Schufrych is accused of having contact with ex-MP Viktor Medwetschuk, who fled to Russia, and of following instructions from Russia. Although his party was banned after the start of the Russian war of aggression, Schufrych continued to belong to the Verkhovna Rada and was also chairman of the parliamentary committee on freedom of expression.
Schufrych is a long-time ally of former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2014. After the first Russian aggression against Ukraine, Shufrych repeatedly criticized the leadership in Kiev, accusing them of not being interested in implementing the Minsk agreements to resolve the conflict in Donbass.
Schufrytsch also expressed his criticism as a Ukrainian member at meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. A corresponding request to speak at the meeting in 2017 was greeted with joy by the head of the Russian delegation, Pyotr Tolstoy. “It is hopeful that there are still political forces in Ukraine that are capable of soberly assessing the situation in the country and not just engaging in anti-Russian rhetoric,” he wrote about the Ukrainian opposition MP at the time.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian judiciary also tightened its grip on the imprisoned businessman Ihor Kolomoisky, whose media empire made a significant contribution to the career of comedian and later President Volodymyr Zelensky. A court increased Kolomoiskyj’s bail to the equivalent of $105 million. In addition to money laundering, he is now also accused of forging documents, illegally taking over property by an organized group and acquiring property under questionable circumstances. The original bail was the equivalent of almost $14 million.
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